Morning journal and courier., 1887-12-05

Michael Minnix, Meyer Schwed, Samuel L. Bronson,
s fagerso oH Thomas ION Mcrai, 6has e. Graves
B. A. Marsh, George J: Hitler, A. n. Wheeler,
sett, william F. stahi, Paul Wen, James Donohue,
Andrew ]. Carroll, Alfred Holt, Stephen Whitney,
Victor schlachter, E. Klenie. Chass. Doty, Edw: E,
Mitchell, Brewer Bigelow, F n , BeckT Ti,
liam H Law, r T. TwitcheII, John T. Sloan, Hen
~ W. Farnam, John Guyer, Morris K 1,t John
IT,. Butler & Tyler. Thomas F: Carroll, Henry o.
White NJ Armstrong, Luoius W Sperry' Ch fda
E. D. Fowler. And many others.
REASONS FOR 1T.
Arguments why the Old state House
Should be Repaired and Preserved.
NEW HAVEN, Dec. 3, 1887.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
viii you kindly and very much oblige the
public by inserting the following abstracts
with few comments thereon) from the re-
port of the State House committee to the
honorable Court of Common Council of the
city of New Haven, made October 81, 1897:
Proposition frst-The State House building shall
be removed from the Green or public square at the
expense Of the city, as soon as may be practicable
And it is hereby further ordered, That in the
event of the adoption of the said first proposition
for removal of State House, it shall be and is here
by made the duty of the board of public works of
the city of New Haven to advertise or before the
25th day of December, A. d. 1887 in not less than
three Of the daily of this city for sealed
see Cream e the Old a9 Stats Ho9e
or before the first day of July, A D. 1883; the con-
dGr - sac t ana GNMn e aRE no %
the judgment of said board of public works. And
in the event Of there being no acceptable bids the
empowered to contract for the taking down and re-
moval of said State House upon such terms and con
ditions may appear to 1t best. And all the ex-
pense of such taking down and removal shall be
paid by the Ecity of New Haven.
AS a taxpayer naturally notice the last
lines of the above abstract and will recall the
fact that estimates for the cost of repairs Gn-
Guiding stone steps, have been made by two
committees, one appointed by the city, of
which Professor w. P. Trowbridge was chair
man, reporting the outside cost at $23, 500,
the other, of which Major Maher was a mem
Der, reporting about $4,000. I have in
quired of other experts, one of whom
is Mr.. Chatfeld. who once said the
State House could be put in good
figures from experts, would it not be just as
business-like to have an estimate made of the
cost of pulling it down, carrying away the
debris of the State House and carting in
proper soil and loan to grade the site of the
cellar?
Now it seems to me what the removal of
the State House would cost could be we'll
applied towards repairing it and SO save the
city at least $3.50, 900 in the near future for a
new building. If the building has to be de-
molished the expense of picking down the
structure of solid walls, Cross walls, etc.,
would be great. There is the cirular rotunda,
built from the foundation all of East Haven
stone mot chips) and hydraulic cement of
great thickness; this must be pulled down
and will be found difficult to demolish even
if dynamite is used to fracture the mass.
The removal of the roof would also incur
large expense, also the loading and carting
of the debris to a dumping ground, the
nearest being the Mill or West river fats
and distant from the Green at least one mile
and half.
The cost of removing $4,000 loads of debris
The cost Of demolishing building, allow. 1900
The cost Of filings soil and loan. 5000 loads
The cost of filling, turing and grading Nv
The cost of Of occidental t. expense, removal
and setting out trees, repairing fence
and street pavement and sewer connec-
ton, etc. Observation-Disclosures. -. 1000
The cost of removal according to the esti-
mate is $40, 900, and several responsible par
ties have offered to make the repairs for this
sum. Now, taking all this into considera-
ton, the people of both town and city who
are to pay for all this, should know as nearly
as possible the cost before voting. To pull
down SO valuable a structure which stands
on q site the best in the town for public pur.
poses, is great mistake. The building can
be in short time made ready for the follow
ing uses:
First-A free public library for which this
site seems advantageously adapted, being so
near the center of the city. The committee
in their supplemental report say, we repeat
verbatim here:
your committee beg leave to report further in
regard to that part of the resolution referred to
site occupied by the present State House, in the
event Of its removal that in their opinion the site
public u AIRY, with additional rooms for the New
Haven Colony Historical society, being central in
external fires. remote from noise and dust and
sfsording abundant light o Being upon ground I'M
are Interested, there would appear to
public purposes, in the occupancy of this site or
any other available portion Of the Green by suit
Your COMMITTEES. however, do not feel called upon
to make any special Recommendation upon this
the Court of Common Council. Respectfully sub.
mitted,
OWEN A. GRoARK,
sHERxooD s. s1T1 THOMPSON,
T. H. SUCKER,
WILIAM KEANR
JAMES N. Coz.
2. A free public hall for the use of any of
the people of the city or town to meet in
without expense This is the only building
in the city where grand reception can be
held at short notice, for example, a presi-
Dental reception, where procession of our
citizens can pass in at the south door and out
the north unobstructed and dispense right
and left without confusion.
3. For an industrial school this building
can be used, the site being second to none
within the city limits, and here the future
taxpayers of the town can be taught what
will prove of great usefulness to them.
4. In the basement, now used in part for
q boys club, where fer the past five years
some three hundred poor boys have been
usefully entertained, continuance of the
same will be useful.
5. A High school. It has been suggested
by the Hon. Il. M. WEIGH, ex-Mayor of the
city, president of the board of public schools,
that the building be used for High school
purposes, and If any gentlemAn's suggestions
are worthy of respect and consideration his
long experience in such matters makes him
eminently fit to point out this most valuable
use.
Other uses could be made of this valuable
pile and will present themselves in the near
future, and as the building does not belong
entirely the city las shown by the State
House commission report in 1881 and on file
IN the Secretary Of States Office, and also as
also shown by the State House committees
.eport), and as the basement is occu-
pied for the storage of town tools and
Implements used in the care of parks and
streets it is quite clear that the claims
If numerous taxpayers are right and proper
when they declare that it has uses, and that
I is not within the province of the city alone
% vote to demolish this structure in which
the county Of New Haven has an important
interest, and one which would at once come